AuthorTopic: PT study at US law school as Canadian (Read 2448 times)

Has anyone enrolled for part time program in the states? I'm Canadian and only have F1. What are my options if I want to transfer to a part time program in terms of visa status and what visas are necessary?

Has anyone enrolled for part time program in the states? I'm Canadian and only have F1. What are my options if I want to transfer to a part time program in terms of visa status and what visas are necessary?

GULC told me it is not possible for Canadians on F1 status to study part-time. I'm not sure if other schools have different policies or not.

It depends on the school's part time program. You need to meet a certain minimum credit requirement per semester. If that particular school's part time program meets that minimum credit requirement, then you're in. If it's not, you're out.

I can't remember the specifics, but if you look around a bit, you'll find it.

But you should know that you can't work more than 20 hours a week if you do make it into a PT program on an F1 visa, and that employment has to be on-campus. (This does not include OTP or CTP, but you should save those for summers, anyway.)

If you go to the US Immigration site and click on F-1 status, it clearly says that international students are NOT ELIGIBLE to study part time in the states. ONLY full time study is accepted. Totally f'ed me over for Fordham part-time. Was pretty pissed about that. Oh well--

Sort of true, but not quite. They have stringent qualifications for "full-time" and "part-time". Some schools' part-time programs qualify as full-time for F-1 purposes. gillesthegreat would be better to ask regarding this.

OPT = optional practical training. CPT = curricular practical training. You get 12 months total of either. If you qualify, you can work (full-time) during your schooling in order to gain credits/training necessary for your job. Usually, this applies to summer work, although sometimes it's used for co-op programs.

OPT is the usual route. CPT is more specific to certain types of programs -- I think the training has to be a required part of the curriculum for CPT to apply.

As far as I know, yes. I think most of it goes through your international students' office, though. Internships are a little bit different -- if they're unpaid, I think it depends on how the placing classifies what you're doing. Not quite sure how you stay in the US for a summer internship. I'm sure it would be pretty easy to Google, though.